Thank you.
Ms. O'Gorman, one solution that seems ideal is to allow border services officers to patrol between border crossings, as the RCMP can do. Yesterday, the president of the Customs and Immigration Union, Mr. Mark Weber, sent a letter to the Minister of Public Safety, Mr. LeBlanc, saying that union members were willing to do this work and had the expertise to do it. He also said that Canadian law might allow border services officers to do this kind of thing, but that an order‑in‑council passed in 1932 prevented them from doing so.
So it would take a bit of political will on the part of the minister to drop that decree and allow border services officers to go out and patrol and lend a hand between border crossings.
Are you aware of these requests from the union and agents? Do you think this could be a good solution for securing the borders?